‘Matilda’ is a new waxflower plant that originated as a seedling produced in a sexual breeding program conducted by the State of Western Australia at its Medina Research Station and at its South Perth nursery and laboratories. Originally identified by its breeder's reference ‘WX47’, ‘Matilda’ was selected from seedlings of a controlled cross performed in 1999 between female parent ‘5001/720-8’, an intraspecific hybrid within C. uncinatum (not patented), and male parent C. megalopetalum ‘CM 6.6’ (not patented). ‘Matilda’ was first asexually propagated at South Perth in 2002 from cuttings, and has been shown to remain true to type over successive generations.
‘Matilda’ is distinguishable from its female parent ‘5001/720-8’ by a number of features, as described in Table 1 below:
TABLE 1Characteristic‘Matilda’‘5001/720-8’Leaf sizeMediumLongLeaf shapeNarrow ovate with acute apexLanceolate with hookedapexLeaf crossTriangular withTeretesectionindented upper surfaceFlower colorWhite aging to whiteAlmost white aging towith distinct deep magentapinkto maroon ringFlower sizeLargeSmall
‘Matilda’ is distinguishable from its male parent ‘CM 6.6’ by a number of features, as described in Table 2 below:
TABLE 2Characteristic‘Matilda’‘CM 6.6’Growth habitCompactMedium uprightLeaf shapeNarrow ovate with acute apexObovate with obtuseapexFlower shapeOpenCuppedFlower colorWhite aging to whiteWhite aging towith distinct deep magentamagenta and maroonto maroon ringspots and uneven patchesFlower sizeLargeSmall
‘Matilda’ is also distinguishable from other known waxflower varieties. A comparison of ‘Matilda’ to ‘Bridal Pearl’ (unpatented), the most similar variety of common knowledge, is set forth in Table 3 below:
TABLE 3Characteristic‘Matilda’‘Bridal Pearl’Growth habitCompactMedium uprightLeaf shapeNarrow ovate with acute apexObovate with obtuseapexFlower shapeOpenCuppedFlower colorWhite aging to white withWhite aging to magentadistinct deep magenta toand maroon spots andmaroon ringuneven patchesFlower sizeLargeMedium